Annunciation
probably 19th century, in the style of early 16th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, heightened with brush and brown wash, white gouache, and gold paint on blue-toned tan laid paper
Dimensions
20.2 × 14.4 cm (8 × 5 11/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
149028
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This drawing is not what it appears to be. It shows a typical Renaissance subject—the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the son of God—and is executed in a technique common in Germany in the early 16th century. However, recent analysis has proven that this work is a forgery. An unknown draftsperson drew the composition on a sheet of old German paper datable to around 1500 but employed a blue pigment that was invented only in 1709. Created with the int...